For the last few weeks, we have been working hard making a composite hardtop for the Pinzgauer cab. We finally finished all the composite work and trimmed it this weekend, so we wanted to share the process sequence. It still needs painted before final installation, but it’s basically finished.
We started out by bonding a stack of extruded polystyrene foam into a large rectangular block the size of the roof. We then spent a lot of time carving, sanding, and sculpting the foam into the desired roof shape. We then released it with masking tape and packing tape so that the composite would not stick to the form plug.
The composite layup is 6 ounce woven fiberglass cloth and 4 ounce woven Kevlar cloth in epoxy resin. After all the plies were stacked, wet out, and cured, the roof was body worked and primed before being removed from the truck. After trimming away excess composite material, the roof fits very nicely on the cab. Overall we are really happy with the process and it will be a great improvement over the canvas top.
Wabi-sabi Overland 